Paddling

This photo I took on one of my recent trips to our local duckpond, it was very busy with a lot of ducks and swans on the lake. Even though it was very busy I did see one duck that was paddling around on its own. I thought it made an interesting composition paddling around with the small waves flowing away from it.

To make the most of the composition I had the camera in aperture priority with an aperture of F11 selected to give a large depth of field. I had the ISO set at ISO1600 to ensure that the shutter speed selected would be fast enough to remove any camera shake or motion blur. I didn’t need to use the flash gun as the clouds were diffusing the natural light.

I didn’t edit the photo as I was happy with how the photo looks straight from the camera. The exposure was spot on and the colours had been replicated perfectly. I didn’t crop the photo as I was also happy with the composition.

I’m looking forward to this weekend as it should be very good for photography. If this weekend goes well then I’m sure we will both have plenty of photos to upload for you over the next few weeks.

Mat

Testing

I was looking back through the photos I took at the Focus On Imaging event that both Bex and I went to earlier this month. This photo was taken while I was at the Sigma sales stand; they had a very large selection of lenses that you could try out if you asked. While I was there I tried out some lenses, when the person showed me there brand new 35mm F1.4 lens. I tried it on my camera to see what it could do.

I selected the maximum aperture of F1.4 to see how small the depth of field was. I found it was tiny; looking back at the image I took the depth of field was about 1cm! The lens gives an equivalent focal length of 56mm.

When I looked back at the photos I took while testing the lens this one looked a little arty with the shallow depth of field separating my kit lens from the surroundings. I had the camera in aperture priority and left the camera to choose the shutter speed and the ISO sensitivity. I didn’t use the flash as I didn’t want to irritate the other people around me.

I didn’t edit the photo for two reasons. The first is that I am happy with the effect of the photo, the camera calculated the exposure perfectly and didn’t require changing. The second is to show how small the depth of field really is and how good the quality of the lens is.

Looking through the photos I took at the Focus On Imaging event brought back the great memories we made. We both had a fantastic time at the event and gathered a lot of useful information.

Mat

Following the Path

The snow was fun while it lasted, but I don’t miss the cold hands or the constant slipping; I’m glad to be a little warmer! I went for a walk to the local harbour today, as I had some free time and wanted to get some fresh air. Surprisingly, some of the leaves were still on the trees!

As I walked along the harbour, I noticed some lights were left over from Christmas. They were draped along the entire row of trees, and looking at it straight on, it looked like a path. I took the photo in this position, to try and capture this effect. I did try to take the shot at a wider angle to start with, but the surrounding buildings detracted from it. I used an aperture of F5.6 so the lights would become less sharp as they got further away, focusing attention on the foreground.

I adjusted the contrast and hue of the picture in Photoshop to increase vibrancy. I also sharpened the image so each of the leaves could be seen. I’m pleased with this image, although I’m a little disappointed that I couldn’t include more of the surroundings.

Bex

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Following the Path

This is another picture from my walk that I went on a few days ago. As I mentioned previously, I went for a walk to my local harbour. When I first walked towards the harbour I noticed a rocky outcrop, which happened to look like a winding path. At the top of this path, a man was walking around. He started to walk back towards the path shaped rocks, so I grabbed my camera and tried to set up the shot as best I could before he moved.

The shot was a little under exposed as I had used a really narrow aperture and had forgotten to take off exposure compensation. When reviewing the image, I actually liked that it was under exposed as it accentuated the shadows and made the clouds look moodier. Apart from sharpening the image slightly, I haven’t edited it at all.

I like how the path seems to lead you to the horizon, but the man who seems to be looking for the start of the path, or perhaps following the trail distracts your attention. I like how his motives are mysterious; you have to look at the image closely to make up your own mind. I’m really pleased with my snapshot!

Bex

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Old Timers

This photo was taken at the Christmas fayre that Bex and I went to. As I said we took a lot of very interesting photos. We both had a great time taking photos of the event, it was Victorian themed so all the stall owners where dressed up in Victorian costumes.

There were two men who walked around the market looking a bit mischievous, so as one of them was looking at the time I decided to take a photo. As I was about to take the photo the second one spotted me and pointed me out, this caused the second man to look up at his watch towards me. I managed to take the photo while he was looking up. I really like the effect that this caused because they were acting naturally so the photo doesn’t look set up.

I was using the camera in aperture priority so that I could control the background blur. And for this photo I selected F5, this gave a large enough depth of field but also it blurred the background so that it was less distracting.  The camera matched this with a shutter speed of 1/80^th of a second which was fast enough to freeze the little amount of movement there was. I didn’t used flash as I thought this would spoil the effect I was trying to achieve.

I did very little editing to this photo because I managed to get the exposure correct in the camera. I cropped the photo down a small amount to remove some distracting details in the edges of the frame and also I increased the sharpness of the photo because I felt it could do with a small increase. I’m very impressed with my camera; I haven’t required to make any drastic changes to the exposure of any of the images that I have taken so far.

We both took a lot of interesting photos and I’m sure there will be a few more in the next few days. And maybe if the weather decides to clear up we may get a chance to go out for a short wander; but I can’t see that happening for a while. If the weather doesn’t clear up, we may try some indoor set up shots.

Mat

Angular

I’ve been ill recently, so Mat was left to his own devices- and credit where credit is due, he didn’t break it! I decided to go for a walk around my local area. After about an hour I had walked to a super market. Normally, I wouldn’t bother to stop but I still had a sore throat so went to buy a drink.

As I walked out of the shop, I spotted the pattern of the corrugated steel on the walls. I liked how the rivets broke up the seamless lines. When standing next to it, the steel acts a lead in line to the rivets; it draws your eye right into the picture. In Photoshop, I increased the contrast and decreased the brightness to give the effect of under-exposing. It also lost the detail in places, making the photo more abstract.

I think this works well, and can be a widely transferable effect so long as you know when and where to apply it.

Bex
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Prep- fest

This is yet another photo from my festival weekend! I may be over doing it slightly, but there are so many pictures that I want to upload, and this is one of them.

I took this on the Sunday, whilst waiting for the next band to come on stage. I noticed how all of the equipment for each band wasn’t put on the stage until just before they were due. This meant it was left piled up at the entrance for about 10 minutes before each set.

I liked how the tambourine was left on top of one of the drums; it made it look like it had been forgotten. I decided that it might make an interesting shot and I wasn’t disappointed! I took this picture in aperture priority, as I wanted the background to be blurred. I decided to under-expose the shot slightly to enhance the shadows.

I’m really pleased with how this photo turned out; especially as I thought it would be more of a snapshot.

Bex

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Summer Flowers

I went on another wander today; this time on my own. I went down to the local canal, as I really like the landscape. I went out for about an hour and took quite a few photos! I think that this has to be one of my favourites from the day.

The group of flowers caught my eye as I walked past because the composition was perfect. I used a very wide aperture to make sure I had a short depth of field, to keep only the central flower in focus. Also, I set the photo up so other flowers surrounded the central one to create a better composition.

In the editing stage I increased the saturation and the colour temperature. I did this to make the photo more vibrant. I really like the effect as I think it summarised the beautiful day perfectly. I didn’t crop the photo because I had set up the composition previously.

I may go for another wander tomorrow if I get the chance and the weather stays this nice. I really enjoy going for walks and taking photos in the sunshine- I hope you're enjoying the weather as well.

Mat

Small beauty

I had a morning off today and so I went for a short walk. After I sat down for lunch I saw an interesting group of flowers next to where I was sitting. Fortunately Bex had let me borrow her camera for the day, because I took quite a few photos today! This one came about quite by chance.

I took this photo just after I had finished my lunch. I focused the camera on a yellow butter-cup in the centre of the group of flowers. There was quite a lot of flowers in the photo so I decided that I should focus the photo onto the central flower; so I cropped the photo down. While I was in photoshop I decided to alter the exposure by darkening the shadows slightly and darkening the highlights by a very small amount to reduce the amount of white-out.

I really liked the effect of this photo with the blurred foreground and the bright, clear yellow of the flower. I’m quite impressed with how the editing came out in this photo; I think I’m slowly getting better with using photoshop and hopefully I will get better still.

Mat

A Sky View

Today Bex and I went for a walk, then stopped for a rest on a park bench. When we where sat down I noticed the cloud formation and the beautiful deep blue sky hiding behind.

To increase the contrast between the clouds and the sky I underexposed the photo by -1 stop. This also siloueted the houses in the foreground, I really like this effect as it puts more emphasis on the sky and clouds.

The only editing that I did was to crop out part of a tree that was in the corner of the frame because it was causing a ‘distraction’ to the rest of the photo. I really like how this photo came out, even though the weather wasn't fantastic I managed to squeeze in a photo that looks like it was taken on a really sunny day.

I should have a chance to make one more post before I leave for Switzerland, but after that it’s down to Bex to keep up the fantastic work by uploading her great quality images! You are all in for a treat.

Mat

Distractions

I will readily admit that I am incredibly easily distracted and, like most people, when I need to do work everything becomes much more interesting- today was no exception.

Mat and I have had a lot going on recently, and I brought some work home with me to finish off during the course of this evening. The glorious sunshine we’ve had over the last few days hasn’t lasted and instead we have rather reluctantly welcomed back the rain.

I try to make the best of situations, and one characteristic of rain is that it can give some interesting shots. This afternoon I was in my room when it had just stopped raining, and there were raindrops on my window. This seemed a lot more interesting than work, so I grabbed my camera to try and get some interesting photos.

I took a few that I thought were successful, and this is one of my favourites. I used the macro setting on my camera with a smaller aperture to create a more shallow depth of field. This meant the raindrops on my window were in focus while the trees behind were blurred.

After my impromptu break I did continue my work, so I apologise for yet another late post!

Bex

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